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UCM Partners with Lee's Summit High School Students for 2019 Microsoft DigiGirlz Day

By Janice Phelan,
March 14, 2019

A total of six Lee’s Summit R-7 School District students, working with the University
of Central Missouri Gigabit Lab, will assist with Internet of Things presentations
at the 2019 Microsoft DigiGirlz Day. The April 11 international event is designed
to provide teenage girls with a better understanding of technology career opportunities.

“This is UCM’s first year participating in the DigiGirlz event,” said Joe Mullins,
UCM Workforce and Professional Development. “We are excited about bringing our Lee’s
Summit R-7 partners in to help with the program.”

DigiGirlz takes place at locations throughout the United States and countries all
over the world. To register for the event, visit this link. Registration closes April
1 or when all spots are full.

The Lee’s Summit students will help present approximately five morning sessions focusing
on the Internet of Things at the metro-area DigiGirlz event, scheduled at Johnson
County Community College. During the afternoon, the local students will have the opportunity
to attend informational sessions.

Lee’s Summit students presenting at the event include Zoey Sears, Lauren Bryant, Makayla
Clark, Martie Schreckengaust, all Lee’s Summit High School, and Megan Demo and Lauren
Smith, Lee’s Summit West High School. All six are in Lee’s Summit R-7 teacher Deanna
Soukup’s Project Lead the Way computer science course.

The local students’ projects include solutions and applications such as:

An app that senses an individual’s heart rate to alert a service dog of panic attacks.

A bathroom mirror designed to include important daily information (calendar, weather,
news).

A hamster cage featuring sensors that dictate the hamster’s Twitter account posts
and the activities of an LED animated hamster.

At the sessions, the student presenters will demonstrate their creations and encourage
the younger students to try them. Soukup, who also sponsors the Lee’s Summit Girls
Who Code Club and the Lee’s Summit Coder Dojo, will attend DigiGirlz with her students.

The University of Central Missouri has partnered with the Lee’s Summit R-7 School
District to further engage students in science, technology, engineering and math through
SensED Internet of Things. The UCM Gigabit Lab is for entrepreneurs/innovators/researchers
in development of next generation products and services that are taking advantage
of faster and more reliable networks.